Women Over 40 Make Great Moms

Are you 40 or older and think that the motherhood ship may have already sailed? Think again. At HRC, we know there are several options to help women of all ages fulfill their dreams.

Here are some important considerations:

You’re in good company
Statistically, more women over 40 are becoming mothers than ever before. In fact, over the last three decades, that number has quadrupled. Some are even saying that 40 is the new 30!

According to a 2016 National Vital Statistics Report (Centers for Disease Control), the birth rate for women 40-44 increased two percent from 2013 to 2014. For those 45-49, it stayed the same, while women over 50 had 743 births in 2014, a 66 percent increase from 2013. The trend seems to be pointing upward when it comes to the age at which women are giving birth.

You can get pregnant naturally
Fertility decreases significantly as women age, but this doesn’t mean women over 40 can’t get pregnant naturally. It will likely take them longer to achieve pregnancy because the quantity and quality of their eggs have declined, and they are also at a higher risk of miscarriage because of chromosomal abnormalities. However, we caution couples to not wait too long before seeking the help of an infertility doctor. If you’ve tried without success for three months or more, and as you age through your 40s, please contact us.

There are medical interventions when you need help
There are many tools in our reproductive arsenal to help women over 40 achieve a successful pregnancy when assistance is required. You can decide to use either your eggs or those of an egg donor with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Some couples try an initial cycle with the prospective mom’s eggs. If this doesn’t work and they decide to use a donated egg, their chances of success is the same as that of a younger woman who provided the genetic material.

You are older but wiser
By the time you decide to become a mother in your 40s, you may already have accomplished many of your professional and personal goals. Throughout your life, you likely also learned from your mistakes and then applied the knowledge moving forward. Those experiences will help you become a better parent, and scientific research proves it.

A recent Danish study of 5000 mothers, published in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology, found older mothers to be calmer without needing to yell as much or impose harsh discipline with their children. The kids, in turn, exhibited fewer behavioral and social problems and better emotional well-being.

Pregnancy at an older age can make you wiser
2016 research from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California concluded that women who had their last babies after age 35 tended to function better cognitively after menopause than women who had their children earlier in life. Scientists hypothesized this might be due to the surge in estrogen and progesterone, the pregnancy-related hormones.

Risks of older motherhood
In addition to infertility, there are increased risks for miscarriage, chromosomal abnormalities, and developing medical conditions like gestational diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy. Women also are more at risk of having a C-section as well as a preterm or low birth weight baby.

You can have a healthy pregnancy
Even with all the potential unpredictability of a later-in-life pregnancy, women over 40 can have a healthy pregnancy and childbirth with proper prenatal care and monitoring by an obstetrician. Chances are women who conceive later in life are very prepared and ready to undergo the challenges and joys of becoming a mother over 40.

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HRC Fertility is one of the largest providers of advanced fertility treatments in the U.S. We are celebrating over 24 years and thousands of healthy births across the world.